As you might know, I’m a big fan of the rockabilly sound of the revival. All the old ted and rockabilly bands like Crazy Cavan, Flying Saucers and Ray Campi, but also Doo Wop like Rocky Sharpe and The Darts. I was on my way to school one day, listening to Ko & The Cattle Show on my ipod and then it hit me! Why not write about those bands? A bit of diggin’ in the Rockabilly Archives!

Ko & The Cattle Show is a fun rockabilly band with a raw sound! Ko & The Cattle Show was a dutch band came from Amsterdam and around, but were first called Cool Cat Trio. Later on they became Ko & The Cattle Show and Guilty Gert was added to the lineup. They started out in …. and the members were:

EP Cover

– Captain Ko for the vocals and leadgitaar

– Guilty Gert for the accoustic guitar, washing board en screams.

– Pierre Bassema on the standup bass

– Willem Cadillac at the standing drums and samba balls

My dad has the EP they brought out, recorded in 84 or 85 in studio Orkater in Amsterdam, and he told me they used to go on stage making random animal noises. Later I heard they also had a gimmick with Dracula teeth (might be because Willem was teeth technician). That made me curious, so I ripped the EP and started listening.

I love ‘Mule Skinner Blues’, a cover of The Fendermen. The Ko & The Cattle Show-version has a raw bass with random screaming and laughing between the lyrics. Legendary is that when the crowd screamed and yelled “samba balls”, they performed this song with Willem on the samba balls and Gert on the washing board. Then you have ‘You Don’t Know’ (original by Billy Fury), a beautiful emotional song! Far too short if you ask me 😛 ‘Come Prima’, a cover of Tony Dallara, but instrumental, is once again bringing that raw bass with some fine guitar work. Last but not least a cover of ‘Long Black Train’ by Conway Twitty, a great tribute with strong voice!

Thats all info i know and gathered. They split up in …., but did a little reunion in 2009, at the “30 Years Bopcats” party in the Cruise Inn, Amsterdam. Unfortunately I wasn’t there! But by writing this article, I like to pay a tribute to this fella’s. You have to check Ko & The Cattle Show out for yourself!!!!